[v1.8] Shadow Magic

SHADOW MAGIC

"There is a dark secret hidden within the walls of Candlekeep, forbidden to be spoken of among the scribes and monks even in hushed voices. A well of shadow magic, fueled by darkness and loss, shunned by most practitioners of the arcane arts. Such powers originate from the realm of the Shadow Weave, the distorted mockery of Mystra's Weave created by Shar, the Nightsinger. So obscure is this power that most are unaware of its existence, and those that know of it refuse to acknowledge it due to its dark origins. However, the seductive whispers of this power has called to you, an apprentice mage who had barely mastered your first cantrip, since a young age, deep beneath the great library.

When the voices became too much to resist, you snuck into the depths of Candlekeep in the dead of night, where unwanted and dangerous secrets are left to rot. Inside of a once-sealed chamber stood a strange fountain, an open wound in the Prime Material Plane through which the energies of the Shadow Weave bled. As soon as you touched the eerie yet beautiful strands of magic that flowed from the wound, you felt an awakening as your connection to the Weave was severed and the power of Shar's dark Weave coursed through you in its place, bestowing upon you a magic that few are gifted with. As you matured, the growing magic within you developed a symbiotic connection until it became one with your very being, and the power of the Shadow Weave became subservient to your will. Gorion and your tutors grew wary of the strange magic that you wielded, though they never learned of the source. Though you knew the dangers of toying with Shar's domain were great, the temptation of such a little-known power in your hands were a thousand times worth the cost."

- biography of a shadow adept Bhaalspawn

Component 1: SHADOW ADEPT

This is a mage kit with a completely unique spell selection with 100+ new spells to choose from. A lot of them are copies of existing spells but there are quite a few relatively unique ones in there.

SHADOW ADEPT: Shadow adepts hurl themselves into the abyss of the Shadow Weave, immediately acquiring all the gifts available to casual students and discovering secrets unavailable to all but the most dedicated.
Advantages:
- Hit Die: d6
- May use Shadow Magic.
SHADOW MAGIC: Spells of the Shadow Weave are usually more powerful than regular magic, but drains the caster's life force. When a spell is cast, the shadow adept must make a save vs. death at +5 minus spell level (e.g. +4 for level 1, -4 for level 9) or temporarily lose Constitution equal to the level of the spell cast for 3 rounds. If the shadow adept's Constitution reaches zero, <PRO_HESHE> is killed instantly.
The Shadow Weave is a mysterious and alien entity, far darker and harder to control than that of Mystra's equivalent. As such, a great amount of mental acuity is required in order to master shadow magic. High intelligence, wisdom and charisma benefits those who choose to stray into Shar's domain.
- Gains the Darkvision innate ability.
DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light. <PRO_HESHE> permanently gains infravision and immunity to blindness.
- Gains one bonus spell cast per level.
- +2 bonus to saving throws against spells of the Enchantment, Illusion and Necromancy schools.
- 4th level: May use the Shield of Shadows ability once per day.
SHIELD OF SHADOWS: The shadow adept surrounds <HIMHER>self with a barrier of purpleblack force. This shield of shadows functions like a shield spell, setting <HISHER> armor class to 4 (2 against ranged weapons) and absorbing magic missiles cast at him for 1 hour per 2 levels to a maximum of 9 hours.
From 8th level onwards, the shield of shadows also grants +4 to saving throws vs. death and +1 to all other saving throws.
- 5th level: May use Shadowstep once per day. Gains one use every 5 levels thereafter.
SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow adept cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane.
- 14th level: May use the Shadow Double ability once per day.
SHADOW DOUBLE: The shadow adept creates a copy of himself out of shadowstuff. The copy is at 60% of the caster's level and has all the spells and abilities that the caster would have at that level.
Disadvantages:
- -2 penalty to saving throws against spells of the Invocation and Alteration schools.
- May not learn or use spells from the Weave.
- Alignment restricted to non-good.
Prime Requisites For Dual-Classing: Intelligence, Charisma

One level 9 spell has a side effect that requires party AI to active to take effect, as it depends on the dplayer3.bcs script. Once you've met the prerequisites (you'll understand once you see the spell) simply turn on scripts for the effect to kick in and then turn it off if you wish.

A couple spells are a bit glitchy here and there. Bug reports are welcomed.

OPTIONAL: HIT POINT COST

This component changes the Constitution costs of spells to a current Hit Point cost instead. The cost of casting spells is equal to double the level of the spell cast.

OPTIONAL: SHADOW DISCIPLE

This component adds the Shadow Disciple kit, the sorcerer variant of the shadow adept with the same abilities.

OPTIONAL: NIGHTSINGER

This component adds the Nightsinger kit, a bard that uses shadow magic.

NIGHTSINGER: A rare class of bards that choose to study the power of the Shadow Weave gain access to its dark powers, bestowing upon them a dirge capable of cursing their enemies.
Advantages:
- The Nightsinger's Bard Song, "Dirge of Despair", curses <PRO_HISHER> enemies, reducing their morale and saving throws.
1st level: -1 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale
11th level: -2 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale
21st level: -3 penalty to THAC0, damage and saving throws, lowers morale
- May use Shadow Magic.
SHADOW MAGIC: Spells of the Shadow Weave are usually more powerful than regular magic, but drains the caster's life force. When a spell is cast, the shadow adept must make a save vs. death at +5 minus spell level (e.g. +4 for level 1, -4 for level 9) or temporarily lose Constitution equal to the level of the spell cast for 3 rounds. If the shadow adept's Constitution reaches zero, <PRO_HESHE> is killed instantly.
The Shadow Weave is a mysterious and dark entity, far more alien and harder to control than that of Mystra's equivalent. As such, a great amount of mental acuity is required in order to master shadow magic. High intelligence, wisdom and charisma benefits those who choose to stray into Shar's domain.
- Gains the Darkvision innate ability.
DARKVISION: The shadow adept is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light. <PRO_HESHE> permanently gains infravision and immunity to blindness.
- May cast one additional spell per level.
- +2 bonus to saving throws against spells of the Enchantment, Illusion and Necromancy schools.
- 6th level: May use the Shield of Shadows ability once per day.
SHIELD OF SHADOWS: The shadow adept surrounds <HIMHER>self with a barrier of purpleblack force. This shield of shadows functions like a shield spell, setting <HISHER> armor class to 4 (2 against ranged weapons) and absorbing magic missiles cast at him for 1 hour per 2 levels to a maximum of 9 hours.
From 8th level onwards, the shield of shadows also grants +4 to saving throws vs. death and +1 to all other saving throws.
- 7th level: May use Shadowstep once per day. Gains one use every 5 levels thereafter.
SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow adept cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane.
- 18th level: May use the Shadow Double ability once per day.
SHADOW DOUBLE: The shadow adept creates a copy of <HIMHER>self out of shadowstuff. The copy is at 60% of the caster's level and has all the spells and abilities that the caster would have at that level.
Disadvantages:
- -2 penalty to saving throws against spells of the Invocation and Alteration schools.
- May not learn or use spells from the Weave.
- Alignment restricted to non-good.

OPTIONAL: FAMILIARS

This optional component provides the shadow adept the ability to summon a familiar at 6th level. The shadow adept's familiar has a few differences in strength and function compared to a mage's familiar but mostly imitates vanilla familiar behavior.

Component 2: SHADOW MONK

SHADOW MONK: Little is known about the secretive order of shadow monks, other than the fact that they draw upon the power of the Shadow Plane to wield dark ki. They are masterful assassins, manipulating powerful illusions to their advantage and skilled at striking from the shadows, but their ritualistic training has taken a toll on their physical stamina.
Advantages:
- +1 bonus to Dexterity.
- Gains the Darkvision innate ability.
DARKVISION: The shadow monk is gifted with the ability to see in the dark even better than in light. <PRO_HESHE> permanently gains infravision and immunity to blindness.
- Gains the Life-Drain innate ability.
LIFE-DRAIN: Shadow monks channel the power of the Shadow Plane into their fists, gaining bonus effects based off of their level.
1st - 9th level: Drains 1 hit point on hit.
10th - 19th level: Drains 2 hit points and lowers target's strength by 1 for 2 rounds (save vs. death to avoid strength drain)
20th level onwards: Drains 3 hit points, lowers target's strength by 1 and 20% chance to drain one level permanently on hit
- Has a backstab multiplier of x2. Increases to x3 at 11th level and x4 at 21st level.
- 3rd level: May use the Shadow Pool ability.
SHADOW POOL: Shadow monks wield the power of the Shadow Plane and can manipulate it in order to cast a limited amount of Shadow Magic. The shadow monk must first spend one round drawing energy from the Shadow Weave then cast the spell. The shadow monk's concentration may be disrupted during the channeling or the casting time.
Level 1 (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th levels): Shadow Missile, Blinding Darkness, Shadow Veil, Decoy
Level 2 (7th, 10th, 13th, 16th levels): Dark Mirage, Black Mist, Ghostly Visage, Shadow Walk
Level 3 (11th, 17th, 23rd levels): Shadowblast, Lifedrinker Touch, Shadow Comets, Impose
Level 4 (15th, 21st, 27th levels): Fireshield (Shadow), Shadeskin, Summon Shadow, Shar's Blessing
- 5th level: May cast Shadowstep once per day. Gains an additional use every 5 levels thereafter.
SHADOWSTEP: Step into the Shadow Plane and move for 7 seconds while others are frozen in time. The shadow monk cannot attack or use spells while in the Shadow Plane.
- 12th level: May cast Shadow Door once per day. Gains additional uses at 16th and 20th level.
- 15th level: May use the Deathstrike ability once per day.
DEATHSTRIKE: The shadow monk teleports to a chosen target and turns invisible for one round. <PRO_HISHER> next attack within one round is a guaranteed critical hit and drains six levels from the target.
Disadvantages:
- Hit Die: d6
- -2 penalty to Strength.
- -4 penalty to Constitution.
- Alignment restricted to non-lawful and non-good.
- Uses the shadowdancer's high level abilities table instead of the fighter's, with the exclusion of Use Any Item.
- May not use the Lay On Hands ability.
- May not use the Stunning Blow ability.
- May not use the Quivering Palm ability.

Component 3: ITEM PACK

This optional component adds a few relatively powerful items that are exclusive to the shadow adept. Some can be found in BG1+SoD and all can be found in BG2. Some items require the shadow adept to have a secondary class in addition to the kit itself. More items are being added as the mod is updated.

Component 4: QUESTS & ENCOUNTERS

Kryn Darkflame is a Shadovar mage of Thultanthar, the Shade Enclave. He is in the grounds of the Friendly Arm Inn and serves as a merchant of magical wares including many Shadow Adept-exclusive items. Finding and dealing with his missing apprentices will net the player a sizable reward.

Comments

@Artemius_I Mmm hmm, no NPC mage's BUT then throw out this little gem of a kit. Was meaning to get round to @LavaDelVortel and Foundling NPC if ever make it to BG2. You just may have slowed that journey a bit here. I was always enamored with the Black One from Greyhawk's Valley of the Mage, he wanted to infuse himself with shadowstuff to prolong his life as opposed to becoming undead.Nice.

Bittercold Touch: THAC0 bonus is also being applied to offhand weapon.

Shadow Veil: On-hit trigger(opcode 232) needs Probability1=100, subspell needs Probability1=5 for all effects. Currently the on-hit trigger has 5% chance of being applied per cast, but triggers every hit.

DO NOT ERASE SPELLS FROM THE SPELLBOOK! Due to the nature of how spells are learned with the mod, erasing a spell means you can NEVER relearn it. I'm still seeking a way to work around it but it doesn't look easy.

If this kit is EE-only you can use the "HaveKnownSpellRES()" trigger to detect knowing the spell while its learned variable is set.

It's not in the projectile, its in the spell. Though the spell has its damages reversed.In the saving throw field, there is a bit for "EE: Ignore Primary" and "EE: Ignore Secondary", meant for use with the "Lined Up AoE" projectiles such as Agannazar's.Setting the "Ignore Secondary" bit will prevent an effect from affecting creatures between the caster and target. It would need to be set for each effect(other than those targeting the caster).

In an unmoded game, neither of these spells exists (they don't use subspells, its just "SPPR517" and SPPR717"), I would suggest adding both of them as well.

Secondary type 18 is not one of the default types, so there is no way in advance to know what mod-added spells use it and will be affected (it depends on mods used and installation order, and if those mods add new secondary types in a mod-friendly way). I don't know what its referring to so I don't know how important it is here or if its even an issue.

Regardless of the above, all 3 of these effects never occur, because they are preceded by the Cast Spell On Condition(232) effect. Opcode 232 MUST be the last effect in a spell, because it will prevent all effects after it from applying (and displays some string about "this contingency is already active". The alternative, is to put the Opcode 232 effect in an external EFF, and use Opcode 177 (targeting said EFF) in the spell, then the order doesn't matter.

Summon Shadow: Missing Constitution loss on cast or description to state otherwise.

Shar's Blessing: Max HP effect - has leftover data in Dice Size/Min Level field, prevents effect from occurring when cast at level 7 and in some cases of dual-classing.

Dread Whispers: Mixed Dispel/Resist checks, they should all be the same, whichever is intended. Delayed Cast Spell effects should not have the saving throw - it should be on the effects of the subspell. Currently all 4 delayed casts use the same saving throw check, when the spell is cast, rather than individual saving throw checks every 6 seconds.

Bitter Cone of Cold: Saving Throw for Half Damage has progressively higher penalty, other effects have no penalty to saving throw. No saving throw penalty is listed in description.

Shadow Retreat: Provides an undocumented and incremental bonus to Backstab?.

Breaching Dark: Casts Subspells not present in game("SPWI513B","SPWI513C"), presumably from another mod. Only grants magic resistance without those spells.

Sigil of Madness: Chaos is a level 5 spell, not 6, unless modded. Suggest a slight description change: "... identical to the Chaos spell in all aspects except one - it is not subject to Magic Resistance. etc..."

Umbral Blades: Again, the "Cast Spell On Condition(232)" effect needs to be last or in an external EFF.

Black Rose: Delayed saving throw issue. I would suggest:

Moving the Entanglement effects into the base spell.

Replacing all of the delayed damage effects with a single instant damage effect in the subspell.

Replace the existing Cast Spell effect in the base spell with delayed Cast Spell effects to the subspell for every 6s increment, with a saving throw vs Spell.

This way, all of the Delayed Casts will occur if they fail the initial Entanglement save, then each subspell's damage will have its own saving throw.

Power Level Issues - I'm seeing a lot of these so I'll stop listing them, instead suggest going through every spell and checking. Usually if an effect is wrong at one level then that effect is wrong on all of them. In case your unaware of why it's important:

All the effects of the spell should generally be the same power level, and equal to the spells level.

There are some technical reasons for an effect to have a different Power Level, usually when it needs to be explicitly bypassed(or noticed) by certain Spell Defenses to work correctly, but not often.

Having mismatched Power Levels will allow some effects to get removed/deflected/reflected/absorbed while others go through, due to the game handling the effects of a spell individually for some defenses, and as a package for others.

Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner. Essence Drain's effect is correct, but the description is wrong. It should be 2 damage at level 1 + 2 damage per two levels afterwords capping at 10 damage at level 9.

Added a link to the main post which is linked to my mod site, which isn't much but it now has a list of all the spells available to the kit. If you really want to know what all the spells are and what they do, now you can.

There's also a tip for a cheat code at the very bottom if you want all the spells right away.

Added a link to the main post which is linked to my mod site, which isn't much but it now has a list of all the spells available to the kit. If you really want to know what all the spells are and what they do, now you can.

There's also a tip for a cheat code at the very bottom if you want all the spells right away.

This mod is fantastic! Is there a chance that it is or will be compatible with tome and blood?

I'm installing both at the moment (along with SCS so it should be done in about an hour or 2), I'll test that but I don't see why not. I would install Shadow Magic after TnB, to avoid any issues, mostly with the arcane crafting component.

EDIT: Seems to work so far. Not sure if it's related to TnB or Spell revision or whatever but I can still learn the usual, Weave spells.

1) I have some balance-based criticism (as always )... the tl;dr version is, these spells all seem to be strictly better than normal spells. This doesn't seem like variant magic, so much as "magic plus." That kind of thing always bugs me and causes me not to use a mod. I like kits/abilities/spells to be different and interesting, without making the game strictly easier for the player.

I'd love to see 'hardcore' versions of these spells that are toned down, but still creative and cool. Because they are indeed creative and cool.

2) On that note, I wonder if you might be interested in working with us on Faiths & Powers. We have a Sphere of Shadow in our sphere system, and while a bunch of these spells are particularly wizard-y, some might work well for priests of Shar and Shadow Mystics etc.

(I suppose this kind of thing doesn't need to be in a forum post, feel free to PM me and @Grammarsalad to discuss, if you prefer...)

The first four or five spells of each level are mage spells plus, but in my defense I made those in 2015. I had barely strayed into modding back then. The last few spells of each level are a little more varied as I made those recently. I'll go back to the original spells some time to make them more interesting.

Not attacking - you've made a whole school of magic that has more spells than the existing schools of magic. That's super cool. If I was making these spells, I would make some small adjustments, like the alt Magic Missile could just do cold damage, instead of a mixture of magic + cold... the alt Fire Shield spell could just do cold damage, it's a bit odd that it does fire damage. (With that one especially, it would work well with Spell Revisions since SR turns FS: Blue into FS: Acid, so yours would be the only FS spell doing cold damage.

I noticed the alt ADHW spell has level drain effects, which is an extremely cool idea, but I would probably reduce the damage, so the level drain is in place of some of the damage, rather than in addition to the damage. So there's actually a tactical reason to use one spell or the other. Basically my mind goes to this kind of stuff - increasing tactical options, rather than making one option a no-brainer.

(Not that the kit shouldn't be powerful - I wrote the Revised Specialists part of Tome & Blood, I definitely made specialists more powerful and it would be cool if we could make these two mods work together well.)

Just finished a run as a Shadow Mystic (BG1 only so far) and the few criticism I'd like to make are:

You have no way of dealing with undeads. Well you do but it's long and tedious, as the only AoE you get deals cold damage to which they are immune and magic damage against which they can save. Adding a couple of specific spells that would work against undead would be super cool

There are no stats you really need to max out: intelligence is useless since you learn your spells through dialogues, wisdom is useless since you can't learn either wish or limited wish. So basically you can be a mage that is as stupid and unwise as an ogre, but as strong and bulky too.

I like the con-draining idea, which resemble helfire warlock, but I feel like it's not the best way to handle this idea of sacrificing your health for more power. I believe a temporary max HP drain (much like psionics from @subtledoctor 's MnG) would fit better. Or make the con drain much longer but much less overwhelming. Like, says, for level 1-3 spells, 1 con, level 4-6 spells, 2 con and level 7-9 spells, 3 con, but this would last 1 hour. Or make it so that learning a Shadow version of a spell also makes you learn the ordinary one, with the Shadow Weave ones being strictly better but with a long con-draining effect with no save. E.G. Fireball deals 1d6 per level up to 10d6, save for half. Shadowblast (its shadow counterpart) could deal 1d8+1 per level up to 10d8+10 (mixed cold and magic is fine) but drain 2 con for 1 hour.

More of a detail, but they could use a Spell Thrust equivalent as a level 3 or 4 spell. With only one level 4 spell that deals direct damage, and this damage being only 6d6, save for half, and no way of dealing with enemy mages protection, the Shadow Adept can do nothing against minor globe of invulnerability.

I also very much like the spells that buff your fighting capabilities, but maybe you could push that a little further. Not an emergency though.

Oh and the Summon Shadows spell crashes my game, but that might be due to my installation.

You have no way of dealing with undeads. Well you do but it's long and tedious, as the only AoE you get deals cold damage to which they are immune and magic damage against which they can save. Adding a couple of specific spells that would work against undead would be super cool

I actually think it's quite appropriate, but yes, you're right, undead can be quite a bitc- uh, beast to get through. I've actually found this to be a problem as well. Thinking of something that would work but not feel too tacked-on.

There are no stats you really need to max out: intelligence is useless since you learn your spells through dialogues, wisdom is useless since you can't learn either wish or limited wish. So basically you can be a mage that is as stupid and unwise as an ogre, but as strong and bulky too.

To be fair the sorcerer is the same deal, and in fact this kit started off as a sorcerer (I only changed it because the spell selection menu was too obstructing and I liked the idea of dual-classing). Constitution is the core stat of the class, but I'm slowly working on a more mentally-demanding spell selection menu.

I like the con-draining idea, which resemble helfire warlock, but I feel like it's not the best way to handle this idea of sacrificing your health for more power. I believe a temporary max HP drain (much like psionics from @subtledoctor 's MnG) would fit better. Or make the con drain much longer but much less overwhelming. Like, says, for level 1-3 spells, 1 con, level 4-6 spells, 2 con and level 7-9 spells, 3 con, but this would last 1 hour. Or make it so that learning a Shadow version of a spell also makes you learn the ordinary one, with the Shadow Weave ones being strictly better but with a long con-draining effect with no save. E.G. Fireball deals 1d6 per level up to 10d6, save for half. Shadowblast (its shadow counterpart) could deal 1d8+1 per level up to 10d8+10 (mixed cold and magic is fine) but drain 2 con for 1 hour.

I tried maximum HP drain. It's fine until you reach the point where your next spell will kill you - then you end up with negative hit points. You're in a dead but alive state, unable to be healed but still able to act, and the next instance of damage will kill you. I then tried straight up dealing damage to the caster, but I didn't like it - besides the frustration of disrupting your own spells, it gives you the possibility of just patching up your resistance to the chosen damage type to 100% then ignoring the drawbacks. If you think there's a better mechanic then I'd be happy to add it as an optional component, but I'm going to say that I'm happier with how it currently works.

Changing the CON-drain from a short-term to a long-term effect is something I've thought about, but I didn't like it either because it means you'll reach the point where you have one constitution and the next spell will kill you and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm not fond of abusing the rest button which is what giving a longer duration will require, which is why it's implemented the way it is. It's not perfect, I'll admit. It's impossible to kill yourself with certain spell levels (Improved Alacrity aside) once you're reached certain constitution thresholds, but I find it more playable this way.

More of a detail, but they could use a Spell Thrust equivalent as a level 3 or 4 spell. With only one level 4 spell that deals direct damage, and this damage being only 6d6, save for half, and no way of dealing with enemy mages protection, the Shadow Adept can do nothing against minor globe of invulnerability.

Noted. I'll definitely add some way to break spell protections at lower levels.

I also very much like the spells that buff your fighting capabilities, but maybe you could push that a little further. Not an emergency though.

I'd like that as well, as fighter/mages are one of my favorite classes and Shar's Blessing was designed to emulate it, but there's not that many ways to go about buffing combat potential. I'm always open to suggestions.

@Artemius_I My run felt pretty strong. As the Shadow Weave enhances the schools of illusion, enchantment/charm, and necromancy, those felt pretty good. The Shadow weave supposedly reduces the power somewhat of evocation and transmutation spells. I know also that Weave users vs Shadow Weave users are supposed to have a harder time countering each others spells, so not quite sure the best way to work with the spell thrusts, dispel magics, etc. that counter each others spells defenses. Maybe some penalties to both but not sure.

I do like the idea of keeping it based on Shar appreciation, as anyone who did not give her the proper worship or get special permission could could lose a part of their mind.

@Arunsun Only prob I had with the shadows was they at first were hostile to the caster but that was fixed, so maybe an installation thing as mentioned.

I really like the whole new school of magic, based on Shar, so just creating a spell that is very similar to every other Weave spell does not have to be. It is very creative the way you have it IMO. Maybe tweak here or there but basically pretty good.As far as undead, I am not sure yet. I would be thinking more on the charm or hold side due to Shar wanting to recruit undead into her force might be an idea as opposed to straight damage. But also possibly could look at some of the existing spells being able to affect undead whereas normal WEAVE users could not.Would lead to new strategies for undead confrontations as opposed to the same old stuff we are used to.

As far as undead, I am not sure yet. I would be thinking more on the charm or hold side due to Shar wanting to recruit undead into her force might be an idea as opposed to straight damage. But also possibly could look at some of the existing spells being able to affect undead whereas normal WEAVE users could not.Would lead to new strategies for undead confrontations as opposed to the same old stuff we are used to.

That's what I had in mind too, though I am not sure exactly how to implement that. Like, for example, you don't want to charm an army of 10 of these skeletons you meet near Thalantyr's or in the valley of tombs, you just want to get rid of them because they are annoying, and grab the skull for Melicamp if you haven't already. But when it's a Ghast or a Skeleton Warrior (in BG1) or a devil shade or even a lich (in BG2) it becomes much more interesting to charm them.

I don't know if it's possible, but I would find it great if you could have some sort of spell that somehow "stocks" the undeads you kill (not all of them), and allows you to use them as servants for future battles. Let's say a spell that behaves like that (figures are more or less random):- For enemy undeads with 6+ less levels than the Shadow adept, they are instantly killed and stocked as undead essence.- For enemy undeads with 5 to 3 less levels than the Shadow Adept, idem but they have to be lower than 50% HP and are allowed a save vs death/spell at -4- For enemies with 2 to 0 less levels than the shadow adept, idem but they have to be below 20% HP and are allowed a save vs death/spell at +2- For all enemy undeads, a crippling effect with a save to avoid it.

And undead essence would be a required component for a special version of animate dead that consumes various amounts of undead essence based on what you want to summon. The quantity of essence you get by absorbing an undead is based on its level. A basic skeleton would bring 1, a lich would bring 30, for example.For example, 2 undead essence would be a 5HD skeleton, 5 would be a 8HD one, 15 would be a 12HD one, and 50 would summon a lich.And you get to choose through a dialogue what type/quantity of undead you summon.

Actually I don't know if it's moddable but if it is I might try and do that for the Evil Turn Undead. It would make for a pleasant and more convenient behaviour, I think.

Upon casting this spell, a spear made of shadowstuff forms in the caster's hands, which can be thrown once towards a target of the caster's choosing. The spear pierces through all targets in its path, dispelling all of the spell protections of 5th level and lower affecting it. This includes the following spells: Minor Spell Deflection, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Spell Immunity, and Minor Spell Turning. If no such spells protect the targets, the spear instead deals 5d6 and inflicts an additional effect dependent on the caster's level.

5th level and below: Reduces targets' Armor Class by two points for five rounds8th-10th level: Reduces targets' saving throws and THAC0 by 1 point for five rounds11th-13th level: Halves targets' Dexterity for one turn14th-16th level: Drains two levels from targets for one turn17th level and above: Instantly kills targets

Targets may make a saving throw vs. death to avoid all secondary effects.

This spell conjures a one-way portal linked to the Plane of Shadow at the caster's targeted location for 8 rounds. For each round that the portal is active, a creature of the Plane of Shadow has a chance of emerging. These creatures are allied with the caster. There is a 60% chance of spawning a Shadow Fiend, a 15% chance of spawning a Wraith, a 5% chance of spawning a Devil Shade and a 2% chance of spawning a Nightwalker each turn. The Shadow Gate may be targeted and destroyed by enemies, though it is immune to elemental damage as well as weapons of +1 enchantment and below.

This spell conjures several blades made of shadowstuff. The blades give +10 to THAC0, and when thrown does 1d4+2 missile damage as well as 1d4 cold damage. Additionally, the blades remain impaled within targets upon striking, dealing the same amount of damage again after a delay of 2 rounds. The spell creates 20 blades and sets the caster's attacks to 9 as long as the blades are held.

When Oblivion Pull is cast, the shadow adept launches a tiny, fast-moving projectile towards a target which spawns a portal at the targeted location. The portal remains for 3 rounds. At the beginning of each round, all creatures that fail a saving throw vs. spells at -3 within a 10' radius will be pulled towards the portal. After 3 rounds have passed, all creatures within a 5' radius of the portal are pulled into it and sent to a small pocket in the Shadow Plane where they are trapped indefinitely. The victim remains there unless a reverse of the spell "Freedom" is cast. If a Freedom spell is cast in the area where the creature was imprisoned, then will reappear exactly where was last standing. Dispel Magic will not free creatures trapped in this manner. There is no Saving Throw against the imprisonment.

Going off @Arunsun previously mentioning the shadow adept's lack of essential stats, I'm implementing a few changes with the goal of fixing that. Intelligence-based spell learning is still in progress, but the next update will introduce a new effect which grants the shadow adept bonuses or penalties depending on their wisdom, reflecting the amount of willpower required to master shadow magic. The effects are as follows: